The Afterlife Series Box Set

  “It’s okay, Mick. I’ve got it,” I said talking through clenched teeth.

  “But I don’t think you do,” he said and came closer. He grabbed my hand and moved it toward the rainbow. “You need to move your hand slower. Like this,” he said.

  I felt the anger rise inside of me and I was certain my face had turned red. I pulled myself out of his grip.

  “I don’t need your help!” I said while I was still trying to keep calm. But it had come out louder than I thought and now I realized that the students were all looking at us. Mick put both of his hands in the air and pulled away from me.

  “Suit yourself,” he said with a hurt expression. “I get it. You don’t need my help. I cannot say I understand it, but I must respect it.”

  I sighed deeply. Mick was from another time than me, he had lived on earth in a different century, and I knew he looked at women differently than what I was used to. He wasn’t used to women being independent like what I had grown up with—like I wanted to be. He thought women wanted to be protected and feel secure in the arms of a man. I did like that too, but just not all the time. It was really hard to explain to him.

  “Uh-oh. Troubles in paradise, huh?” Mrs. Ohayashi said.

  There were a few giggles among my classmates, but I didn’t care. I shook my head.

  “I don’t think I can do this,” I said.

  I flew right past Mrs. Ohayashi and Mick without looking into his eyes. Then I left the class while Mai climbed the rainbow with no effort and started balancing toward the top.

  “What is wrong with you?”

  Mick came to my dormitory right away. He flew to me and sat on my bed. I was hiding my face in the pillow.

  “What is wrong with me?” I asked and lifted my face.

  He didn’t look at me, but stared into thin air.

  “I don’t understand you. Why are you acting like this? I was only trying to help you.”

  I sighed and sat up in the bed.

  “I know. I am sorry. It is just …” I sighed again. I was afraid of hurting him. “Well, I didn’t ask for your help. I was trying to figure out how to do this on my own. You embarrassed me.”

  He turned his head and stared at me.

  “I embarrassed you? How do you think I felt?” Mick said. “My fiancée refuses to take my advice and doesn’t even want to set a date for the wedding. How do you think that feels? Everybody in the school is talking behind our backs.”

  I swallowed hard. I was not going to discuss that again. The date issue.

  “I told you, I am not in a hurry. I need to focus on graduating.”

  His blue eyes stared at me with a mixture of disbelief and anger.

  “Why are you not in a hurry, when I am? All I want in this life is to make you my wife. I want to move on with our lives and become what we were meant to be.”

  “And what exactly is that?” I asked.

  Mick sighed. “It is like you don’t even want to.” He grabbed my hand with the ring. “I gave you this, so we could be married. I have prepared a house for us to live in once you get into Heaven. I even know what flowers we are going to have as decorations. I have taken care of everything.”

  “That is exactly the problem, Mick. You take care of everything without so much as consulting me. Without asking me what I want, what I like. It is like I don’t even exist in this relationship. It’s like my opinion doesn’t even matter.”

  His eyes looked at me more softly. “That is only because I wanted to spare you. I didn’t want to put too much on your shoulders. You have been through so much lately, and you do need to focus on school, so you can graduate. So I did not want you to care about these things.”

  I sighed again and touched his hand on the bed. It was soft as silk. He had the nicest skin. Even his face was so silky.

  “That is really nice of you. You do care a lot about me. I know that,” I said with a soft smile.

  “You are everything to me.” His eyes were big and had tears in them as he said it.

  I smiled. “I know. You keep saying that and it is really sweet.”

  Chapter 5

  That night I couldn’t fall asleep. Something inside of me felt so stirred up. I tossed and turned in the bed, thinking that it either was too bright outside, or it was too quiet inside. On top of it all, my heart raced. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what was wrong with me.

  Thoughts kept running through my head. Something new had risen inside of me. A thought, a feeling, that I could not escape. What if I was about to make the biggest mistake of my life? What if Mick and I weren’t meant to be? I sighed and sat up in bed. The idea of spending all my waking hours with him by my side drove me nuts. If I had a hard time with it now, how would it be when I was done with school and we would live together, spending both days and nights together?

  Maybe it was just cold feet. That’s pretty normal before a wedding, to doubt if this is really what I want, I told myself. We had only done this one day; maybe it would get better along the way. I had to admit I hadn’t given him much chance. Plus I loved him, I really did. Just thinking of being close to his body and maybe … one day … made me smile and all warm inside. We had agreed to wait till after the wedding, and that made me want him even more. I was looking forward to that part of being married.

  I put my head back on the pillow and felt calmer on the inside. No relationships were without problems. It was just cold feet. That was all it was.

  Even then, I didn’t sleep well, tossing and turning in my dreams, waking often. In my dream it was dark, and what little light there was seemed to come from Mick’s radiant eyes. In my dream, everywhere I looked in the blackness he was there, and I couldn’t escape him no matter how fast I ran. If I turned from him, his eyes would be in front of me again, staring at me.

  Troubled by the sinister dream, I opened my eyes and stared into the dormitory. I felt my heart racing again. There he was, right beside my bed, by my feet, standing next to me. Mick’s radiant blue eyes stared at me in the darkness. The light from the moon outside reflected in them. He didn’t seem to notice I was awake. So I closed my eyes again, hoping that I had only been dreaming again. My breathing was heavy as I dozed off. It wasn’t until the early hours that I sank into a deep dreamless sleep.

  When I woke up the next morning Mick wasn’t there. My eyes searched for him for a couple of seconds, and then I finally decided that it had all been a dream. When I got out of bed, I was tired and edgy. As I went through the door, Mick was waiting for me outside. He leaned against the wall looking at me casually with those blue eyes. They made me feel that feeling from the dream again. I didn’t know what to do—kiss him or run away.

  “Sleep well?” he asked as he bowed down to kiss me.

  “Not really,” I replied while letting him do it.

  At breakfast I had some cereal while Mick had eggs. As usual, Mick was the center of attention and lots of people came to talk during the meal. Even Rahmiel came to our table this morning. She looked at Mick and then at me. Mick got up and bowed in front of her. Then he took her big hand and kissed it. I, on the other hand, barely had the energy to lift my head and smile at her. I kept my head bowed over my bowl, while they spoke. Needless to say I wasn’t the chatty type in the morning and especially not that day.

  “So how are things with the two of you?” Rahmiel said with her singing voice. She was the Angel of love and mercy and had the ability to make spirits feel calm and loved in her presence. I felt it now, but tried to fight it. I was in a lousy mood and felt like staying there for awhile. I wanted to throw myself a little pity party today. There was nothing wrong with that every once in awhile. I was about to make a big and difficult decision; no wonder I had nightmares and doubts.

  “We are doing very well, my lady,” Mick said while he sat down at the table again.

  He always called her that. It made him so old, I thought to myself. It was cute too. Maybe it’s just me, I thought as I saw how everybody greeted Mick an
d waved at him to say good morning. He was the popular one. Was that bothering me? Was I the only one who didn’t know how to appreciate him as he deserved? Suddenly I got a feeling of great condemnation and guilt. After all, he was only trying to protect me. It wasn’t his fault that I didn’t want his protection.

  “It is good to hear,” sang Rahmiel with a huge smile matching her huge body. “Any news on a date yet?”

  I froze as she spoke. My spoon landed in the bowl and splashed the leftover milk. Mick looked at me and then back at Rahmiel. I awaited his response with ears wide open. What was he going to answer to that? Mick shook his head with clenched lips.

  “Not yet, I am afraid.” Then he paused and looked at me. “Meghan is taking her time.”

  Rahmiel smiled at me. “Well there is nothing wrong with that,” she said.

  “I know. We are not in a hurry here. I mean we have all of eternity to figure it out, don’t we?” Mick gestured wildly with his arms. I detected a hint of bitterness in his voice that made my inside freeze. He didn’t even seem to try to hide it. Rahmiel noticed it right away as well.

  “Patience can be tough, but it is necessary in a marriage,” she said while smiling at me. I smiled and blushed.

  “I am just …” I said, but Mick interrupted me.

  “It will come. She will come around soon,” he said with a forced soft voice. Then he looked at me and touched my cheek.

  “Very well,” Rahmiel said. “I will leave you two alone. Just let me know in time so I can make the arrangements and make sure that everybody can be there. It is not every day two spirits gets married here in our school. I want it to be more than perfect.”

  “We will, my lady,” Mick said and grabbed my hand. “You will be the first to know.”

  “I didn’t appreciate that,” I said when she was gone. I pulled my hand out of his.

  “Appreciate what?” Mick asked.

  “That you spoke about me as if I wasn’t here.”

  The expression on his face told me he didn’t understand. “What are you talking about?”

  “You interrupted me when I tried to explain myself and talked about me like I was just a child.”

  Mick shook his head. “I really don’t understand you these days. It is like I can’t do anything right. I try my best and this is what I get from you. I don’t know what to do anymore.” He paused and looked around the hall. Then he leaned over the table and said with a low voice: “If you don’t want to be treated like a child, you should stop acting like one.”

  I stared him in the eyes for a long time, feeling the tears piling up inside. Tears of frustration, tears of anger. Who did he think he was? I got up from the table.

  “You know what? I don’t need this right now,” I said.

  I left him sitting at alone the table while I went to my Art of Healing class.

  The Archangel Raphael had already started when I arrived. He stopped talking as I entered a little confused and with the feeling of a waterfall of tears stuck in my throat. Raphael gave me a look.

  “I don’t want to hear it,” I said with a harsh voice as I passed him and floated toward my seat. I didn’t want to hear anything about me being late, so I left no room for him to get angry.

  “It’s all right, I guess,” Raphael said a little perplexed as well. He went to his desk and turned a couple of pages in the textbook.

  I stared at the door as Raphael resumed. I expected Mick to enter any moment, but he didn’t. I felt so frustrated and angry.

  “This year we have a new task for you. In order to earn your degree, you have to do a project. It is a special assignment that will last through your final year,” Raphael said.

  He paused and looked at all of us before he continued. I thought I heard a voice and turned to look at the door again, but no one entered through it. Maybe it had just been someone in the corridor outside. This was crazy. Now all of a sudden I wanted Mick to come and be in my class. I didn’t like that he was mad at me. This whole marriage thing was about to destroy us.

  “So you are all going to have an individual assignment handed out by Salathiel tomorrow at a small ceremony. Each task will be different and you cannot compare yours with other students’ assignments. They will suit you and are specially designed for you. No one else can solve them for you; it is something you have to do on your own.”

  As usual Nigel had his hand in the air. “What if we can’t solve them on our own?” He asked. “Can we ask for help?”

  “You can discuss them with your classmates and ask for guidance, but it might not mean the same to them as it does to you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “These are personalized assignments; therefore they have to do with something you need, an area you need to work on, something you need to learn.”

  For a long time, a great silence filled the classroom. Everyone wondered what their task might be.

  “I can tell you are confused. But I can tell you that it will all be clearer to you when you receive your assignment. Then my advice to you will be to have patience. It might take awhile before it is completely clear to you why you have gotten exactly this assignment. But you will see. It will suddenly occur to you.”

  I didn’t pay as much attention to what Raphael said as I would have liked to, so when I finally decided to listen I got really confused. As we left his class, everybody was talking about it. How they were afraid of failing; how they didn’t know where they would find the time for it. They were just concerned because it was something new, something we had never done before. I was glad we had gotten this. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all. A big project could take my mind of Mick and me.

  I didn’t see him again until lunch break. At that time I felt really sorry and all the anger from earlier was gone. He left a note for me on my plate to meet him in the Butterfly Garden. “Bring the food,” it said. The plate was empty but next to it was a big picnic basket. I grabbed it with a smile and hurried out into the garden where Mick waited for me, lying on the grass.

  “I am so so sorry,” I said as I sat down next to him.

  He lifted his head and looked at me. Then he sat up. “No, I am the one who is sorry. I hate when we argue. I can’t stand it. It tears me apart on the inside.” He touched his chest to show me how much it hurt. Then he paused before he grabbed my face between his hands. I heard his heavy breathing as he pressed his lips very softly against mine. His kiss shifted between desperation and passion as he pressed me into the grass, holding me by both my shoulders. Then he climbed on top of me and started kissing my throat, then breathing into my ears as he gave in to his lust in a brief moment of weakness. It was like he was trying to devour me, make me one with him. He was like an animal marking his territory, telling the world that I was his, that no one was to come near to me but him. He wanted to own me, to possess me. And I let him. For a moment I breathed him, I tasted his skin and smelled his scent.

  Then I felt him turn to stone. He pulled his body away from mine with great force. I saw his guarded expression. His eyes were wild, his jaw clenched with restraint.

  “Not now,” he whispered. “Not like this.”

  I sat up and looked him in the eyes.

  “Don’t be mad at me anymore,” he whispered as he laid his head in my hands. “Please?” His eyes were big and puppy-like. I couldn’t help but smile.

  “I’m not mad at you,” I said. Then I paused. “But I do think that this marriage thing has come between us.”

  He nodded pensively. “I agree. What do you suggest we do?”

  “Take it a little slower.”

  “Or …” He looked at me with a playful smirk, holding my gaze. “Or we could just set a date right now.”

  I sighed. His puppy-eyes were still staring at me. I couldn’t get mad at him. Then I made a decision I knew I would regret. I was tired of this ongoing discussion, so I decided to finally close it.

  “Okay,” I said. “Let’s do it.”

  Mick sat up, looking very
surprised. He had not expected that answer from me. I liked being unpredictable.

  “Really? Are you serious?”

  I started unpacking the picnic basket and took a bite of a sandwich while I felt his eyes studying my every move. I laughed to myself. Butterflies flickered over our heads, like they knew what was going on. “Sure.”

  “Okay,” he said with a big smile. “What about this Saturday?” His voice filled with huge expectation.

  I swallowed the bite of the sandwich hard. It was a little sooner than I had expected. I was more thinking like in six months or maybe right before graduation, in the spring when everything was so beautiful. I couldn’t help but wondering why he was in such a hurry. Was he just eager to marry me or was there something else causing him to press on like this? I couldn’t see why he would have an ulterior motive, so I just swallowed my pride along with the ham sandwich.

  “What about we say the Saturday after that?” I said. “We have a lot of planning to do.”

  Mick shook his head. “No, no. I have everything ready.”

  “What? But I need a dress and we need to find …”

  Mick put a finger over my lips to silence me. “It is all taken care of.”

  I looked at Mick. I felt overtaken. This was my wedding too, and I wanted to have some say in it. At this moment I wanted to speak up. I wanted to let him know that this wasn’t okay. But as I looked into his eyes, I couldn’t. I didn’t want to fight anymore about stuff like this. Inside of me a little voice was whispering, Maybe, just maybe … He is really trying to be nice to you. It wouldn’t be the first time that he went overboard to try to make you happy. On top of it all Mick seemed so extremely proud. Like he had been waiting an eternity to tell me about this. At this moment I was sure this was the exact case. Mick had really prepared everything and had just been waiting for me to say when. I couldn’t figure out if he had done this to make it go faster for some reason or if it was really to make it all easier on me.